Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-09-08
No GREAT CRIMINALS.
SOME ROMANTIC IDEAS DlSPELLED
BY AN EXPERIENCED CROOK
professionals" Only Commonplace
Crowd After AIl-Their Number, Their
Profits and Their Skill All Exagger-
ated-A Transparent Trick.

IToiSsciOhAis OhAy
Crowd After AiI-Their Number. Their
Profits and Their Skill All Exaeger-
ated-A Transparent Trick.
Ihave been reading and 1 suppose every
body has been reading, too, about great
criminals in the newspapers. The boastful-
ness Of the detective and the imagination Of
the reporter have combined to make some
interesting reading, but If you recall what
you have read you will find that very few
great criminals have been told about, and,
apart from murders, very few great crimes
have been committed. One or two pro-
fessional forgers, a half score of burglars, a
cluster OF twenty-five confidence men, and
the whole list is exhausted. The fact is there
is no such army Of criminals fertile of ex-
pedient, ready Of device, watchful Of every
chance to break in and steal. as the police
would have You believe.
i was looking over the criminal list the
other day Of the convicted professionals con-
fined in New York state. They were numer-
Gus enough, but their crimes were contempt
bly, small To make your Vidocq, you must
have first your great criminal and his great
crime. The American Vidocq makes himself,
with these two essentials left out; and having
opportunity to talk with one of the alleged
great criminals, he confirmed my belief in
the visionary character of these shrewd and
clever rascals with no greater effort than re-
vealing his own stupidity. | hunted up
another, a professional who has repeated his
offenses sufficiently to entitle him to any
other distinction than that of an honest
man. would mention that he wears stripes
T1nyx Navnt hot ,1rrt$ l,-,rr =
value of his statements in the minds Of some
who are too easily prejudiced- Anyway he is
a better authority than the police, whose
vanity in their own capacity may be n
proper pride, but leads to some mighty tall
lying.
"The fact is that professional thieves and
rogues are not numerous in any locality, and
If crime were the sole source of support for
the few hundreds who are so classed most of
them would Ire hungry many times every
year Men who steal whenever they get a
chance always have some other occupation,
and it is n fact that the legitimate one Is more
profitable than the illegitimate one in nine
cases out of ten" Thus began my inform
ant, Wesley Allen, the pickpocket.
But in this city there is vast army of
professional criminals" l said, "men who are
classified and whose industries have special
forms, implying cunning and originality
My dear sir, you have been reading the
newspapers or talking to detectives There
isn't dozen. If really clever msn-if men
with modicum of brains that belong to
clever people-were to devote their talents to
roguery society couldn't exist. The methods
employed by thieves, for example, to attain
their ends look very cunning and well
planned 20 one 10 whom they are first re-
vealed. But take any one Of them and ex-
anime it and you will see how flimsy it is. 4
sneak thief wants TO get into the till of a
corner grocery. His accomplice comes with
a tape line and begins TO measure the side
walk in front of the door, or TO measure the
wall. or comes III i wagon and begins to
throw out a lot of boxes. The grocer steps
out to inquire; is held in conversation, asked
to hold the end Of the measure or pass back
the boxes; the sneak is in and away, and the
trick is off \ saloon keeper is known to
keep pocketbook stuffed with money in the
inner pocket of his vest. The pickpOcket
knows it is difficult place to touch. Two
accomplices come in when he is alone, both
OF them laughing heartily-one with a tape
measure. We'll, that was a dead loss for me-
says one. Set 'em up They laugh, ask the
saloon keeper to drink and explain that they
were betting on the girth of a neighbor. The
saloon keeper becomes interested; the more
so as rounds are being called and then the
loser wants to get even. A bottle Of wine is
staked and the victim asked to measure, the
new bet being on his girth. Objection is
taken to the vest; OFF it comes and the sneak
thief-a third party-soon has the leather"
Now, that's artful. certainly said I.
mo such a thing; it is most transparent
and simple. 1t couldn't succeed if it were
not that the victim is a fool But these are
exceptional cases of such good planning as
crooks can do. But, after all, suppose man
of brains-real brains, such as you know
plenty of-were to devote himself to the
planning of ways to get other peoples money
without an equivalent, and went at it with
the energy that men give 10 the practice Of
their profession or to the pursuits of COM
merce, where would such schemes us this bes
Nowhere. You hear of 4 great burglary.
The newspapers which report it dwell upon
the fact that it had been carefully planned
and that the house had been plotted, for O
diagram which the rascals had left in their
flight was found What's to hinder any man
from learning every room and every door in
New York city. There's the builders plans,
the insurance companies plots and the build
ing departments open files. A little watch
ing and a Sooi deal of guessing makes up the
rest of the Burglars knowledge. Of course,
his tools are Of the finest workmanship
Rats. The chances are ten to one that they
consist of bar Of iron, which being carried
by a burglar is called jimmy dark
lantern, q copper hammer, 4 chisel and flask
of powder and handkerchief with holes in it
to see through for q mask"
But there are cases where men have gone
further than make few hasty preparations;
have hired adjoining stores and tunneled and
burrowed into banks ami vaults with infinite
patience and labor"
Bah! How manyl You say ten and
say one Whatever you say l viii allow 10
per cent of But can you recall any?"
well, the Covington, Ky, bank"
That's one You can't go on. But there
have been probably twenty robberies COM
mitted in that way in the last thirty years
and none of them amounted to very much in
the way of returns, outside of two or three
You make up your mind to this fact, that the
returns of robberies are vastly exaggerated.r
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